Small, Medium, Big Bao @ Shanghai

Few weeks ago, I was in Shanghai for a week business trip. That was my first visit to China mainland, everything so new to me, nice buildings, night scenes, crowded city, ridiculous property price... Frankly, I don't quite like the environment and living style there, only work there maybe is fine, but living there will be a no no for me.

In a week time, I didn't really try all the local foods, but luckily colleagues brought me to City God Temple (城隍庙) so I didn't miss the famous original Nan Xiang xiao long bao (南翔小笼包).

Nan Xiang is an ancient building near the lake, first floor, second floor and third floor selling different grade of dishes. We had our xiao long bao at 2nd floor, price at RMB 12 (6 pieces), a lot cheaper than M'sia, BUT... one of my Shanghai colleague also try this for the first time, we all agreed that this is not good at all. This is rather disappointed, can't imagine why long queue at first floor to buy this xiao long bao. The skin is thick, rough and not much soup inside, heard that Nan Xiang is working hard to keep their prestige in Shanghai after Din Tai Fung entering into China, but with this taste, the quality just too far away.

After the disappointment at Nan Xiang, we moved to another restaurant nearby, can't recall the name but they also one of the signatures here, serving very large xiao long bao.

Same type can be found in Nan Xiang M'sia, but what I have tried in Shanghai again is just so so. Well, I dare not say it is too bad, because I can finish it (except the skin), but how can these dishes in City God Temple tagged as best in Shanghai?

With all the disappointments, I went back to my hotel near to 吴江路 (wu jiang), which also a famous street selling lot of local specialties. I have seen long queue everyday outside a shop name Yang's Fry-Dumpling (小杨生煎馆) but no chance to try, since I was still hungry after the small and big bao, so I decided to try the fry dumpling as well.

(I snapped the shop again during day time.) Ah... finally I found something good :-). With only RMB 4 (4 pieces, damn cheap), quality over price I have no complaint at all. The little dumpling filled with lot of soup inside, combination of fried skin, sesame, hot soup and minced meat is so great, indeed it is a bit oily due to pan fried, so I didn't finish the skin. Saw 小杨生煎 along Nanjing Road but heard the most authentic one is this outlet at Wu Jiang Road. Don't be too greedy if you buy dumpling here, 4 pieces are enough to me.

The rest are just some random shoots along Nanjing Road.

Technorati Tags: Shanghai + Xiao Long Bao + Nan Xiang

RedAnt @ Millennium City 5 (APM)

# Read trip summary here

Other than exploring the oldish restaurants in Hong Kong, one of the good modern restaurants that we have visited is RedAnt (红蚂蚁). I can't find history from their official website, but heard from my friend this is highly recommended even for their local citizen.

We stumbled on RedAnt because it was really crowded and their menu offers wide variety of fusion foods. Although the dishes we ordered were printed in Chinese on the receipt, I have copied their English name from their website.

Starters: Charcoal Grilled Lamb Chop with Honey (炭烧纽西兰蜜糖羊扒 HKD 48) and Baked Mashed Potato with Escargots Topped with Herb's Butter (巴黎牛油田螺肉焗鲜白菌薯蓉 HKD 30), really long name huh ;-)

Both also taste very good (night mode photos again, so as usual... bad), I especially like the baked escargots with potato that full of butter (or milk) smells. If you don't feel like want to have a main course as dinner, can consider eat only this, enough for girls.

My main dish of the day: Baked Home-made Chicken Roll in Japanese Sauce with Chopped Garlic and Salty Fish (蒜香咸鱼蜜汁焗酿鸡卷饭 HKD 55). I always felt insecure when ordered a "chicken" dish but luckily this was really good. Chicken rolls were boneless (that's my favourite, lazy man) and baked rice just nicely done, I will recommend this but if you want to try other baked stuffs, I think should be quite safe as well because RedAnt was famous with baked rice combo.

Hope I was there again to try out all the items in menu with RedAnt tagged. Their main shop resided at Causeway Bay (check their website for address) but this one is located at APM shopping mall.

L1-13, Level 1, Millennium City 5 (APM)
MTR Kwun Tong (观塘) station exit A2 (see map T6)
Tel - 2389 9393
Fax - 2389 9595
Mondays to Sundays : 11:30am to 12:00am

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong + Kwun Tong

Yung Kee 镛记 @ Central

# Read trip summary here

Back. Has been thinking should I continue the Hong Kong trip story or just stop it, but lot of my friends planning to visit Hong Kong this year (2008), so hopefully my posts can help them a bit ;-). Before I start my first post in 2008, would like to wish you HAPPY NEW YEAR!

After we failed to dine at Yung Kee that day, on a cloudy morning we revisit Central again just to lunch at Yung Kee. This time we arrived just before 12pm, still very easy to get a seat and most important, ordered the famous Roasted Goose (金牌烧鹅).

Well... this is not cheap, HKD 110 for a regular plate (例牌) but to me, this tastes really good! I have been hearing great stories about this roasted goose, such as Brunei sultan shipped this to Brunei during his birthday party, top 15 restaurant in the world etc., although the rest of my orders not so impressive, I still think if you drop by Wellington Street, this is a must try.

We both not enjoy the Barbecued Pork (蜜汁叉烧 HKD 90), it was a bit dry and can only be graded average as compare to what we have in Malaysia. The Sauteed Seasonal Vegetable (郊外菜远 HKD 60) was plain but very fresh, so still okay to me.

You can read short story of Yung Kee at Wikipedia, or full story at their official web site here.

Address:
香港中環威靈頓街 32-40 號
See map R6

Technorati Tags: Hong Kong + Central + Roasted Goose + Yung Kee